Sunday, November 19, 2017

Kolkata: The authorities at Kolkata airport are working on an ambitious project that would open up five additional slots each hour for landings and takeoffs. Expected to be in place by a month, this will mean more flights during rush hours.
At present, the airport can handle a maximum of 30 flight movements an hour or a flight every two minutes. The air traffic management (ATM) team though believes runway efficiency can be increased further to accommodate at least 15 more flights. But that would have to happen in two phases; first increase the number to 35 and then push for 45 or even 48.
Study on the first phase to reduce distance between incoming flights so that they can land in quick succession is nearing completion. At present, aircraft coming in to land maintain a separation of 7 nautical (13km) when there is no takeoff in between and 8 nautical miles (15km) when there is a takeoff. This will be reduced to 6 nautical miles (11km) when there is no takeoff and 7 nautical miles (13 km) when there is a takeoff.
Air traffic control officers are already undergoing training to handle flights with reduced separation and airlines will be briefed soon.
Also on the anvil is a meeting with pilots to ensure they don't spend an extra second on the runway. "Runway occupancy per flight must reduce from over 1 minute now to around 50 seconds. Planes that touch down have to exit at the earliest. While those that depart must start the takeoff run as soon as they enter the runway. It is all about precision," an ATM official said.
19/11/17 Times of India